Coastal and shelf modeling activities within the Department of Ocean Sciences at RSMAS include model development, research, and graduate instruction. The developed modeling tools are used for the understanding of coastal and shelf dynamics, shelf-break processes and interaction with offshore oceanic currents and eddies. Applications include the cross-marginal transport of river-borne materials (land inputs), the transport of hydrocarbons (offshore sources) and physical connectivity of remote coastal ecosystems. High resolution forecasts are provided publicly for the Gulf of Mexico (weekly updates) and the Straits of Florida (daily updates). Support for this work has been provided by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the Gulf of Mexico Research Initiative, the National Science Foundation, the Office of Naval Research, the U.S. Department of Energy, and the National Ocean Partnership Program.